Cotton cleaning cylinder



o. MITCHELL COTTON CLEANING CYLINDER Flled Jan 6, 1956 Arr-Delve K 2 Sheets-Sheet l //v l/ENTOE ORV/LL E M/Tw/ are arch 1, E93& Q MITCHELL 2,109,88

COTTON CLEANING CYLINDER Filed Jan. 6, 1956' 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 o a; O

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HTTOENEK Patented Mar. 1, 1938 NITE,

' 13 Claims; (01.19 94 'I'hegeneral object of ,this invention is to; provide a cotton cleaning cylinder-which shall be characterized by extreme, simplicity and lightness of Construction while at the same time pos- 'se'ssing great strength andrigidity and the work-t ing parts of which are readily detachable "for purposes of repair and replacement.

Stated'more in detail, an objectof theinvention is to provide a cleaning cylinder the drum whereof is formed of separable housing sections mounted on a frame, the abutting edges whereof provideangular projections which are secured,

together, and in' detachably securing bladed strips tolthe drum by bolts, or, the like, in. such manner that the'blades of the strip will be positioned at a distance from theangular projections on the rear side thereof relative to thejdirection of rotationoi thecylinder.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cleaning cylinder, thefdrum whereof is .formed of separable housing sectionsdetachably mount,- ed on a frame, the abutting edges whereof provide angular projections, and in detachably securing avbladed, strip to each set of angjular'projections by bolts, or the like, which preferably at the same time secure the angular projections of the housing sections together.

Another object of the invention, in a drum constructed as above described. is to provide ,for detachably mounting blades on said drumby means of a number of independent metal strips extending longitudinally of the drum, and each of which issecuredat one side to the drum and at its other side is provided with integral blades which are of greater height than 'the angular projections of the housing sections and extend at right angles to the length of the strip, so as to move edgewise relative to the direction of rotation of the cylinder.

Another object of the invention, in a drum constructed as above described, .is to provide for detachably mounting blades on said drum by means of a number of independentnietal strips extending longitudinally of the drum, and each 'of which is provided at one side with a flange adapted to be secured to the angular projections of the drum an-dat its other side with integral blades formed by bending up equally spaced sections of the edge portion of the strip at right angles to its base, or body, and which blades are of greater height than the angular projections of the housing sections and extend at right angles to the flange of the strip, so as to move edgewise relative to thedirection of rotation of the cylinder.

'Another'objectof the invention in a drum constructedas described; 'ist o' provide flanged strips provided withintegral blades, the blades being located at one sideof thestrip and extending at right angles to, and being' remote from, a flange provided atthe otheredge of'thestripj and to 2;?

detachably secure the flange of each strip to the angular projections of the drum in such manner that the flanges of the respective strips will pre: 'cdethe blades in the rotation of the cylinder.

Another-object of the invention is to provide, as a separate article of manufacture, abladed strip for use on the drums of cotton cleaning cylinders, said strip-having a bas'e'portion curved to'confcrrn to the curvature of'the periphery of the drum and being provided at one side with a I' longitudinal flange and at*its other with upturned equally spaced sections forming blades, which blades are remote from andhigher than [the flange and extendat-right angles to the latter." w

In order that the advantages of my invention may be more clearly appreciated, it maybe briefly explained that the cylinders commonly used in connection with cotton cleaning machinery'comprise drums of some sort, having either 1 vanes extending from one end of the drum to the other or rows of spikes secured to the periphery of the drum in staggered relation to each other.

because the spikes are moreeffec'tive for loosening hulls and trash from the cotton, thistyp'e of drumis generally regarded as preferable to drums having longitudinal vanes, although the spiked form of drum is considerably more expensive to manufacture than thedrum, or cleaning cylinder, provided with vanes.

' My improved construction of cleaning cylinder embodiesthe strength of the vane construction causes the blades togmove edgewise with therothe screen surface by the rotation oi the cylinder. Thus such blades-being'flat and relatively ,tation of the cylinder against or through the stream or bodies of cotton being forced around wide are practically incapable of being bent'inr the direction of their extension, and moving edgewise, they can be inore readily forced through the cotton than spikes, in that they present a" thinner surface of metal to engage the V l 30 Since it requires less power to force the s'eparated spikes through heavy bodies of cotton, and

stream or bodies of cotton. They are therefore more effective than spikes for loosening hulls and trash from the bodies of cotton, besides having less tendency to sweep the cotton in a body around the surface of the screen.

Another disadvantage arising from the use of a drum equipped with spikes, and which is avoided by the use of my bladed construction of cylinder, is the fact that when the ends of the spikes engage the long locks of cotton containing a large number of seed, the trailing ends of the locks tend to whirl or twist, which results in the fibers between the seeds being spun more or less into threads, and the ends of the locks trailing back on each side of the spikes, being in contact with each other often rope or twist together; and such spinning or roping action results in the production of naps or threads by the action of the gin saws which lowers the grade or spinning value of the lint. With my improved cylinder, the ends of the blades which engage the cotton as it is being forced around the screen are not only of sufficient width to provide the necessary strength, but are wide enough to prevent the ends of large locks engaged by the front edge of the blades trailing back into contact with each other, which prevents the fibers being roped or twisted together, and which experience has shown. results in marked improvement in ginning results, especially with the long-staple Varieties of cotton.

I By referring to the width of the blades, I intend to designate its linear extension in the direction of rotation of the cylinder; and this width may be of any desirable, or practicable extent, and will always be more than double the thickness of the blade.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of one of my improved bladed strips;

Figure 2 is a cross-section through a cleaning cylinder constructed according to my invention;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of one end portion of said cleaning cylinder taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2;

Figure 4 is a developed plan view of a portion of the cylinder on a reduced scale, illustrating the staggered relation of the blades; and

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of a cleaning cylinder illustrating a modification in the manner of securing the bladed strips to the drum of the cylinder.

Referring to Figure 1, the blades, 1, are formed on a press with suitable dies from a strip of metal of a thickness to give the strength required, the base, 2, or wider portion of the strip, being curved transversely to conform to the curvature of the drum on which the strips are to be mounted. The front edge of the strip is bent up at right angles to provide a flange, 3, to provide means for securing the strip to angular projections of the drum, the flange 3 being of less height than the blades I. The blades I are bent at right angles to the base 2 at equal distances apart along the rear edge portion of the strip, are provided with relatively wide flat outer ends and extend at right angles to the flange 3. The latter is provided at intervals throughout its length with bolt-holes, 3

The cleaning cylinder proper comprises a central shaft, 4, having a series of disks, 5, secured thereto, as by set-screws, 5 the periphery of each disk having a flange, 6, as shown in Figure 3, to which the drum sections or housing member, I, are secured by bolts, 6* Preferably four housing sections 1 are employed to form the shell of the drum, and. each of these sections is provided at one side with an outwardly extended flange, 8, that are bolted together to form a solid drum. The bolts, 8 which secure the flanges, or angular projections 8 of the housing section 1 together, also extend through the bolt-holes 3 in the flanges 3 of the bladed strips, to secure the bladed strips to the angular projections in a manner such that each row of blades I will lie to the rear of the flanges 3 and angular projections 8, relative to the direction of movement of the cylinder, and thus be pulled rather than pushed around with the rotation of the cylinder. This is quite an important feature of the invention, since obviously if the cylinder were rotated in the opposite direction from that shown by the arrow in Figure 2, hard substances passing into the machine with the cotton and engaged by the blades would tend to lift the bladed strip away from the drum and force the blades into the screen, thus destroying the screen and seriously damaging the cylinder. When, however, the cylinder is rotated in the direction shown by the arrow, or with the blades trailing the angular projections of the drum to which the bladed strips are secured, any hard substances getting into the machine will merely force the base section of the strips tight against the drum, there being no tendency for the blades to be lifted or forced out into contact with the screen.

In the modified construction, shown in Figure 5, the base 2 of the strip is not provided with a flange but instead is connected to the periphery of the drum by bolts l the rear edge of each strip simply abutting against the side of the angular projection or flange 8, adjacent which each bladed strip is secured.

When constructed as shown and described, neither the angular projections of the housing sections nor the front flange of the bladed strip of the preferred construction project far enough from the drum to act on the cotton, the action being confined to the outer ends of the blade.

It will be apparent that if the blades formed in the trailing edges of the longitudinal strips did not project out from the drum a greater distance than the flange at the front of the strip, or the angular projections on the drum to which said flange is secured, the blades would not be effective. That is to say, the action would be the same as with a vaned cylinder.

Aside from this bladed type of cylinder being unusually effective in cleaning cotton and preparing it for the extracting mechanism by loosening hulls from entanglement with the cotton, it is extremely simple and inexpensive to construct. Also, it is stronger than the spiked type of cylinder and has the further advantage of being equipped with quickly replaceable parts in case of damage.

With my invention, any one or all of the bladed. strips can be quickly removed or replaced, whereas with a spiked drum an entirely new cylinder must be substituted if the spikes become badly worn or damaged.

I claim:

1. A cotton cleaning cylinder comprising, in combination, a shaft, a drum mounted thereon the periphery whereof is formed by a plurality of housing sections the abutting edges of which are provided with angular projections, and a series of strips secured to said projections'and having blades located at one side of and at a distance from the latter. V

2. A cotton cleaning cylinder comprising, in combination, a shaft, a drum mounted thereon the periphery whereof is formed by a plurality of housing sections the abutting edges of which are provided with angular projections, and a series of strips secured to said projections and having spaced blades provided with flat outer ends extending at right angles to the length of the strips and located at one side of and at a distance from said projections.

3. A cotton cleaning cylinder comprising, in combination, a shaft, a drum mounted thereon the periphery whereof is formed by a plurality of housing sections the abutting edges of which are provided with connected angular projections, a series of strips extending longitudinally of the cylinder each of which has a flange extending along one side of said angular projections, and a series of separated blades extending along its other side, and means securing said angular projections and flange together.

4. A cotton cleaning cylinder comprising, in combination, a shaft, a drum mounted thereon the periphery whereof is formed by a plurality of housing sections the abutting edges of which are provided with connected angular projections, a series of independent strips, each of which has a flange extending along one side of said angular projections and separated blades remote from said flange, and means securing said angular projections and flange together.

5. A cotton cleaning cylinder comprising, in combination, a shaft, a drum mounted thereon the periphery whereof is formed by a plurality of housing sections the abutting edges of which are provided with angular projections, a series of strips each of which is provided throughout its length with separated blades extending at right angles to the length of the strip and with a flange remote from said blades and extending along one side of said angular projections, and means securing said angular projections and flange together.

6. A cotton cleaning cylinder comprising, in combination, a shaft, a cylindrical drum mounted thereon the periphery whereof is formed by a plurality of housing sections the abutting edges of which are provided with angular projections, and a series of longitudinal strips curved to con.- form to the curvature of the drum detachably secured at one side to said projections, and provided with blades at its other side.

7, A cotton cleaning cylinder comprising, in combination, a shaft, a closed cylindrical drum mounted thereon the periphery whereof is formed by a plurality of housing sections the abutting edges of which are provided with angular projections, and a series of strips secured to said projections, and having blades located at one side of and at a distance from the latter and of greater height than said angular projections.

.8. A cotton cleaning cylinder comprising, in combination, a shaft, a closed cylindrical drum mounted thereon the periphery whereof is formed by a plurality of housing sections the abutting edges of which are pro-vided with angular projections, and a series of bladed strips secured to said projections and supported on the periphery of the drum, and the blades of which are located at one side of and at a distance from said projections and are provided'with flat outer ends positioned to move edgewise relative to the direction of the movement of the drum.

9. A cotton cleaning cylinder comprising, in combination, a shaft, a closed cylindrical drum mounted thereon the periphery whereof is formed by a plurality of circular housing sections the abutting edges of which are provided with angular projections, a series of metal strips each of which has one side bent outward to provide a flange and its other side provided at intervals with up-turned sections providing blades remote from and extending at right angles to said flange, and means for detachably securing the flanges of said strips to one side of the respective pairs of said angular projections in such manner as to cause said flanges toprecede the blades in the direction of rotation of the cylinder.

10. A cotton cleaning cylinder comprising, in combination, a shaft, a drum mounted thereon the periphery whereof is formed by a plurality of housing sections the abutting edges of which are provided with angular projections, a series of longitudinal strips each of which has its forward edge portion, relative to the direction of rotation of the cylinder, bent outward to form a flange and its rear portion provided with separated bent-up sections providing blades extending at right angles to the length of the strip, and means for detachably securing said flanges to said respective angular projections.

11. A cotton cleaning cylinder comprising, in combination, a shaft, a drum mounted thereon the periphery whereof is formed by a plurality of housing sections the abutting edges of which are provided with angular projections, a series of strips each of which is provided throughout its length with separated blades extending at right angles to the length of the strip and with a longitudinal flange remote from said blades and extending along one side of said angular projections, and means securing said angular projections and flanges together with the blades of the respective strips having staggered relation to each other.

12. A cotton cleaning cylinder comprising, in combination, a shaft, a drum mounted thereon the periphery whereof is formed by a plurality of housing sections the abutting edges of which are provided with outward angular projections, and a series of longitudinal, bladed strips secured to the drum, the blades whereof have flat outer ends higher than said angular projections and extend at right angles thereto, said blades being located at one side of and at a distance from said projections.

13. A cotton cleaning cylinder comprising in combinationa shaft, a drum mounted thereon, the periphery whereof is formed by a plurality of housing sections, the abutting edges of which are provided with angular projections, a series of strips each of which is provided with separated blades extending at right angles to the length of the strip and with a longitudinal flange in advance of the blades in the direction the cylinder rotates and extending along one side of said angular projections and means securing said angular projections and flanges together with the blades of the respective strips having staggered relation to each other.

ORVILLE MITCHELL. 

